Z STRUCTURE

Shanghai, China

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Z STRUCTURE

Shanghai, China

Firm

tf Architecture Office

Type

Cultural › Pavilion
Industrial › Farm
Landscape + Planning › Public Park Playground Urban Green Space Masterplan

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2016

SIZE

100,000 sqft - 300,000 sqft

BUDGET

$500K - 1M

Z Structure in Shanghai, China

According to an ambitious plan, the Jinshan Modern Agricultural Park, located on the southwestern outskirts of Shanghai, is being transformed into a country park with recreation functions. 'tf' and 'pp a|s' were tasked with creating a pilot project for initiating this transformation. The core of the concept is rebuild an active connection between the rural park and a contemporary area image. In order to realize it, highly identifiable design, high-quality space and meanwhile brought public attentions are pillars of the strategy.
veranda, an essential element in traditional Chinese gardening, has been selected as the theme of the design. In the park, verandas extending in the east–west direction links up several isolated agricultural tourism projects on the north side of the freeway. These verandas will be expanded farther westward and will pass through the eastern landscape mound to be integrated with other tourism projects towards the south via a pedestrian bridge. The grass banks on the south side of the veranda will block the park from the noisy freeway. The freeway-facing side of the park, Banks together with the veranda, form an extended earthscape with a high identifiability.
Replacing the expensive and complex wooden structure of a traditional veranda, a simple, white concrete structure has been used, which will not only harmonise the modern agricultural environment but also effectively reduce costs to 80 euros/square metre. The folded planar structrue provides sufficient space in various areas of the narrow site. In particular, the courtyard enclosed by the central veranda and the sightseeing pavilions has become a rest stop for the visitors and a centre for tourist activity in the core area. Combined with the landscapes in various areas, the guiding openings on the walls at each side of the verandas allow the changing scenery while walking. Similar to the traditional high-platform architecture, the bottom platform create a subtle height changes between the verandas and surroundings and powerful styling characteristics.